Staff back $1.5m lid on Shellharbour stadium

By
ALEX ARNOLD

Jan. 31, 2014, 7:48 p.m.

Shellharbour City Council staff have recommended the council push ahead with plans for a new $1.45 million roof over Shellharbour City Stadium, despite concerns the stadium could be demolished to make way for the Albion Park Rail bypass.

Staff back $1.5m lid on Shellharbour stadium

Shellharbour City Council staff have recommended the council push ahead with plans for a new $1.45 million roof over Shellharbour City Stadium, despite concerns the stadium could be demolished to make way for the Albion Park Rail bypass.

User groups say problems with the leaky roof date back to when the multimillion-dollar complex opened in 2000, although the council has previously said the leaks were first noticed in 2005. In the past two years alone, the indoor stadium had to be closed on 55 days due to wet weather.

Problems with the roof have left the council hundreds of thousands of dollars out of pocket through lost revenue, temporary solutions and failed legal action against the architects and project managers involved in the construction of the stadium.

In December, just as councillors were set to commit to funding the new roof, Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) informed the council the road corridor near the sporting complex would be "further investigated" to meet a design speed of 110km/h.

However, since then, council staff have met RMS, which advised them "planning, design and consultation is estimated to be a 10-year process" and "the full extent of the impact on the stadium remains uncertain".

In a report to be presented to Shellharbour councillors on Tuesday night, council staff said if the council did not proceed with repairs to the roof the risk of injury to users would remain, the floor would deteriorate and the council's reputation would continue to suffer.

"The continued loss of confidence in the reliability of the stadium may have a potential revenue impact up to $200,000 over the 10-year period that it may take RMS to confirm their plans," the council's manager of projects and contracts, Sheree Gillen, wrote.

"However, it should be noted the true extent of reputational loss for council has not been quantified.

"The recommendation is to proceed ... with the full roof replacement to ensure a functioning facility for the community."

Ms Gillen said should the future Albion Park Rail bypass road corridor impact on the stadium, RMS would be required to compensate the council in accordance with the Land Acquisition (Just Terms Compensation) Act 1991.